Investigating the impact of intelligent personal assistants on the purchase intentions of Generation Z consumers: The moderating role of brand credibility

Consumers increasingly use intelligent personal assistants for shopping, given their advantages of being hands-free and voice-controlled, enabling individuals to multi-task during interactions, and identifying users through voice printing. Members of Generation Z (Gen Z), the world's most populous generation, who focus on experiences and innovation and are familiar with using the internet, are increasingly using smart technologies. However, the factors that influence Gen Z consumers' purchase intentions as they use intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) are unknown. Drawing on the computers are social actors (CASA) paradigm, this paper explores how the intelligent features of IPAs affect Gen Z consumers' purchase intentions and investigates the moderating effect of brand credibility. Using structural equation modeling on a sample of 428 Gen Z consumers who use IPAs, the results show that personalization and a conversational tone have significant positive effects on informational support and emotional support. Autonomy and responsiveness have significant positive effects on informational support. Informational support and emotional support have a positive impact on purchase intentions. Brand credibility positively moderates the relationships between informational support and purchase intentions and between emotional support and purchase intentions. This study deepens our understanding of the antecedents of purchase intentions that affect Gen Z's use of IPAs and provides practical guidance for the development of IPAs. In addition, the results could help companies develop strategies to improve brand credibility to increase the purchase intentions of Gen Z consumers.